Fragmented Memories
by theAirshipLibrarian
Summary: In the original story, Yuki never had to actually tell Machi about the curse. I want to explore a different plot- one where he must tell her, and one where the tragic past of the Sohma's continues. Or does it?
1. Chapter 1

Morning didn't creep up on Yuki. No, it bashed him violently on the head with its powerful, painful rays of sunlight. He groaned and covered his head with a pillow, curling around his blankets in an attempt to maintain the beautiful sensation of sleep. If he really awoke he'd have to get up. And if he got up he'd have to face things, like Shigure and Kyo and School. He didn't want that.

Then again, there were other things. A smiling picture of Tohru floated through his brain, and then another picture of a different girl. A quiet, serious looking one. Yes, that was one person he _would _like to see. He'd get up for Machi's sake, if not for his own.

He rose, stumbling and confused. He bumped his legs and side against furniture and let out muffled groans. _I hate mornings. _

With his clothes sloppily on and his tie loose around his neck, he stumbled down the stairs, ignoring Kyo's taunts and Tohru's kind, motherly mumblings. He wasn't sure what she was saying, but it sounded nice enough. Only one thing was on his mind though- the kitchen. He'd make it there, or die trying.

He collided into the door, smashing his head on the frame. Cursing, he raised a hand to his forehead and then found himself in the kitchen. With relief he slumped into a chair and dropped his head on the table.

"Ah, Yuki-kun?" It was Tohru, looking at him with worry. "Are you all right? Can I get you anything? Breakfast? Water?"

"I'm fine, Honda-san, I'm fine," he said, raising his head a little. As always, the sleep was starting to slowly slide off of him, the foggy cloud inching away from his brain every second until he was clear once more. He pushed himself up and helped himself to a glass of water and a bowl of rice- courtesy of Tohru. "Thank you," he smiled at her, relishing the delighted grin she shot back at him. She was so sincere, so kind and welcoming- just like he'd imagined a mother might be.

"Uh, Yuki-kun? Your tie is a mess again."

He chuckled, and lifted his chin a bit higher so that she could tie it for him. This had become a ritual between them now. A mother straightening her little boy's school uniform.

Now that Yuki had come to turns with his feelings for Tohru, it was easier to be around her. It was freeing to see her as a support and a kind friend without having to force himself to look at her as he would a girlfriend. Now he could enjoy her smiles and win them with his own jokes and acts of kindness. And he could now open his heart to another young woman, one who had slowly been inching her way in.

"Thank you," he said as Tohru finished, and then he ran back up the stairs to get his book bag. Then he slipped out the back door. Tohru and Kyo were used to him leaving way before them now. He had student council business to take care of and had to be at school at a horrifying hour in the morning.

While he hated getting up early, he did like the feel of the school in the morning when only the teachers and a few, scattering students had arrived. A few teachers nodded to him, but he passed few people on his way to the Student Council office. Nao and Machi were the only two there so far. Ignoring each other pointedly, Nao was busy at his desk, muttering about something or other, and Machi was staring out the window. Both looked up at him as he answered. Nao just grunted and then went back to work, and Machi blushed when he met her eye and whipped her head back to the window. He had to smile, amused by her reactions.

"Good morning," he said to both of them.

Nao ignored him, but Machi turned back to him and nodded her head in acknowledgment.

Yuki walked over to his desk and sat down. He picked up papers and started rifling through them, pausing suddenly, and then looking through them again. "Did one of you take the class form for the Cultural Festival?" he asked, lifting his head and looking carefully at both of them.

"Of course not," Nao said, somewhat snappishly.

Machi shook her head. "No."

He got up and started to look on Kakeru's work area. It was covered with random slips of paper and video games. No forms. Nothing important or even resembling work. He moved onto to Kimi's desk, but it only had unimportant items like cosmetics and fashion magazines. "Does anyone actually do any work here?"

"I do," Nao said defensively. "But that's about it."

Machi rolled her eyes, and Yuki gave a small nod, agreeing with her unspoken statement. "I'll go down to the office then and see if we can get a new copy. It'll be a pain to have to go around to all the classrooms again and get the information to put down. There are so many other things that needed doing. We don't really have the time." He left the Student Council, heading towards the main office of the school building. Machi followed him out, jogging a little to catch up with him. He slowed his pace marginally.

"I can do it."

"Hmm?"

"Going around recollecting the info on the class stands and cultural activities. I can do it and you can work on something else you need to do."

"That'd be a great help, thanks." He kept walking towards the main office, keeping pace with Machi. She frowned, a little furrow forming between her eyebrows.

"I can get the papers from the office."

"Yep." He kept on walking. She was seriously confused now.

"Why are you still walking to the office?"

"Does it bother you?"

"No! Yes! Ugh," she seemed like she'd almost hit him. "I don't know. It's weird to walk if you don't have anything you need."

"I do though. I had to go to the office anyway to look at the itinerary lay out. Shiraki-sensei asked me to give an opinion on it. I'm not sure why."

"Oh."

They walked in silence, Machi focused on the ground, and Yuki stopping occasionally because someone waved him over. As they continued and these stops became more frequent, Yuki became a bit more flustered. By the time they were only a minute or two away from the office, he'd begun to walk in a much faster pace, almost rushing for the room.

He smiled down at Machi, explaining that, "sometimes you just can't be stopped by anymore people y'know?"

_Yep, _she thought. _I know. I've always known. It's written across my face. "Can't talk to people well. Don't even try." _

"Sohma-kun, good." Shiraki-sensei, the upperclassmen's literature teacher, handed him a bunch of leaflets. Check that out. Feel free to make pen marks and corrections. Have it back here by lunchtime." She started to walk out, her long ponytail swinging behind her. She grumbled to herself, but everyone else could hear, "I cannot wait until we're done with this Cultural Festival. Why do we have to do it every year? Every three years would be better."

"Umm," Yuki turned to the secretary. "Komaha-San, could we get a reprinted version of the Cultural Festival table and form? Ours mysteriously went missing."

"Of course, Sohma-kun," She smiled, Komaha was always friendly. She was kind to all of the children, never holding back smiles, and always happy to help if she could. She printed the sheets carefully, and then gave them to Yuki, who then handed them over to Machi.

"Start with the freshmen, maybe. I can fit the seniors in on the way to classes."

"Okay," she bobbed her head once and began heading down the hall.

"Thanks!" Yuki called after her. She didn't make any gesture to acknowledge that she'd heard him, though he was pretty sure that she had.

* * *

The morning whizzed by. There was school work, council work, and then just trying to avoid people. It had never been easy, but was even harder now that he was School Council President. He was an extreme introvert. He glanced at his phone to check the time. Only one more hour and then most of the people would be gone, and soon he could leave too.

He entered the Council Room, bracing for the commotion. Usually Kimi and Kakeru and Nao were all in the room. Kakeru and Kimi being ridiculous and making noise, while Nao just yelled at them to shut up.

They weren't there today, though. Machi was, though. She was sitting cross legged in a swivelling office chair and was marking down what each class was doing, what supplies they'd need, and etcetera on the Cultural Festival Form.

She glanced up as he entered. "Hi," she mumbled.

"Hello," he replied, his voice flat. He didn't have to pretend to feel cheery or bouncy with Machi. Somehow she saw him as something other than, "that really handsome, princely like guy." He appreciated that a lot.

He peered over her shoulder, then he did smile. "You've done a lot. We'll be all caught up by tomorrow morning. Good work."

"Thanks," she blushed, remembering the last time that he'd told her that she had done well. She'd made a fool of herself- had told him about her mother, her brother, and how much it had hurt. Despite feeling embarrassed about it, she'd felt a bit better. She wondered if he was remembering that, which immediately sparked her to wonder if he'd remember to walk with her at the next snowfall.

All of this wondering...

"How are you?" she asked, finally noticing his exhausted features.

"I've been better, and let's leave it at that."

He pulled out some of his own homework and they worked for a while, side by side, in a peaceful quiet. After a moment Machi's phone went off. She got up, stretching. "That's my alarm. I need to go."

She took a step, her foot getting caught on the leg of the chair, and went crashing into Yuki. A gray puff of smoke clouded the air, setting her coughing. "What? Did I start a fire or something? She peered through the smoke for Yuki, but didn't see him. He'd disappeared? How was that even possible? She glanced down, noticing something scurrying. A mouse! She bit back a yelp. She was not a fan of rodents.

The rat scurried through the room, finding a bookshelf to hide behind.

Machi shuddered, then started putting her books into a haphazard pile. She began shoving them into her bag, not caring if the pages got a little folded. That smoke arose again from behind the bookshelf and the shelf was being pushed away, making the gap between it and the wall wider. Yuki's head protruded from the shelf now.

Confused, Machi looked from him to where his, wait, were those his clothes? Lying in the middle of the floor. "Uh..." she was frozen, unsure of what to do. Finally, something clicked and she bent down to pick the clothes up. She slowly scooted to where Yuki was hiding, his face red. She kept her face firmly on the ground. "Here."

He accepted them wordlessly, and then she booted it out the door and down the hall. Running in the hall wasn't allowed, but right now, that wasn't what was on her mind. What she was preoccupied with was that _Yuki had just turned into a rat. In front of her. After she'd touched him.  
_


	2. Chapter 2

Machi didn't get up the next morning, convinced she was sick. She was going insane. People didn't just turn into animals. Handsome boys didn't become rats.

_There's something not quite right about that girl... _

How many times had she heard that? From her parents, her parents' friends, her brother's friends. From everyone. _She's just so odd. It's like she doesn't care about anything at all. _

She cared; she cared about a lot of things. Right now, one of those things was her sanity. She thought she was sane, but there was one thing hinting that maybe she wasn't. One fact she couldn't ignore. She thought she'd seen a boy turn into a rat.

Her mind was like a broken record, replaying those words over and over again. Boy, rat, Yuki, mouse, rat, Yuki, boy, rat, how?

She lay face first on her bed, and stretched her arm across to the other side, reaching for her phone of her night table. She had to feel around for awhile. There were mugs and papers, and books stacked high, hiding the phone. Eventually she found it. She flipped it open and called the school, telling them she wasn't feeling well and would be absent. That done, she buried her face in her pillow and tried to shut her overheating, overworking mind. It wasn't working.

She lifted her heavy head from the pillow and looked around at her messy room. Maybe she'd clean it.

She let her head fall back down. Nope. Not today. Definitely not today.

She drifted back to sleep. For the rest of the day, she dozed, read, thought, drank tea, and then started tearing her hair out with confusion. She just couldn't understand what was going on. She couldn't make sense of it all.

Around four-thirty in the afternoon, her stomach rumbled loudly. "Augh," she put a hand to her stomach and then threw on a slip on dress that was only mildly stained. At least her coat was clean, and it was a long coat that covered her clothing. She grabbed her wallet and her key to the apartment. She flung open the door, hitting someone who had been lurking outside straight in the face.

"Ow, ow, ow." It was Yuki. Groaning and holding his nose. "Give me some warning, would you?"

Warning? He was the one who hadn't knocked to let her know he was there. She opened her mouth to say as much, but he'd already straightened and was looking at her in a way that made her nervous. He was both kind and nervous and serious. He looked like he had something important to say. Something about him turning into a rat.

_No. Boys don't turn into rats, _she reminded herself. _It's not possible. _

"I think," Yuki scratched the back of his head. "I think maybe we should talk about something."

Machi wanted to say, "Yes." She thought, _yes. _What she actually said was, "I'm hungry."

He held up a bag of groceries. "I brought some pastries and dumplings and meat."

She opened the door again and held it for him to pass through. They cleared a space on the floor so that they'd have somewhere reasonably tidy to eat their meal.

"You really should get a table," he said as he arranged the bags of food on the floor.

She shrugged. The floor worked fine for her. Besides a table would just be another piece of furniture to pile stuff on top. It's not like it would change how she lived.

They ate in silence, then Yuki cleared his throat. "Umm..." he rubbed the back of his neck. "You might be a little confused right now. You might think that something weird happened yesterday in the Student Council office."

_So I'm right. Something did happen. It's not just that I'm insane. _

"Basically, I'm, well." He groaned. "I don't know how to explain this. Shigure usually manages to do it."

"Shigure?"

"My good-for-nothing older cousin."

"Ah."

"Well, basically, the Sohma family's cursed." He winced. That hadn't come out smooth.

Machi tilted her head, trying to come up with something to say. Nothing came.

"You see, for some reason, whenever we're hugged by someone of the opposite gender we become the animals of the zodiac."

"Oh." Machi wasn't sure what to make of this. It would mean he'd turned into a rat when she'd bumped into him. It'd mean that the boy she had a crush on, actually _did _turn into a rat. And that was a bit hard to swallow. But it explained a lot. The rumours of him pushing girls away, when he was so obviously gentle. The kind of oddness that surrounded any of the Sohma's in the school. "So, Kyo-san, Hatsuharu-san, and Momiji-san?"

Yuki nodded. "Yep."

"That's... weird."

"It is." He seemed to be waiting for something. He was holding his breath, searching her face. What did he want? What was he looking for? "Machi, what do you think?"

She was thinking a lot of things. _I'm not mad! _Was a big one. _How is such a thing scientifically possible? He really trusted me with this? _Then, _of course, he had to, I saw him. _

"If you want to have nothing to do with me, I totally understand," he continued.

"But we both work on the Council; there's no way to get away from you." She bit her lip. That came out way wrong. "I mean, it's not like I'd want to get away from you," she tried to amend.

Her awkward stammering seemed to be enough for Yuki, who smiled at her. "I told you. I can't believe I told you."

His smile was contagious, and she found herself shyly returning it. "I won't tell anyone, I promise."

"I trust you," he beamed at her, causing her heart to pound a little faster.

"I-I," she tried to think of a way to respond. "I'm glad." In the end, it was the truth. She was glad, and letting him know that felt good. Besides she'd told him about herself- about her brother, about her fear of perfection. It seemed right that now they both held a bit of truth about the other person.

Yuki reached out and fiddled with the laminated maple leaf he'd given her that was lying beside them on the floor. He twirled it in his hands. "Would you like to go to a movie or something?" he asked hesitantly, unaccustomed to asking girls out.

"S-sure."

They grabbed their coats and left the room. There was a good two feet of distance between them as they walked to the theatre.

A Mogeta special was playing, so they decided to watch it. Like many children's shows, they realized as they watched it that it wasn't anywhere near as good as they might remember. But still, at the end, Yuki bought Machi a little Mogeta postcard, that she accepted happily.

"Thank you," he said later, standing at her door. "Thank you." _Thank you for not hating me, for not being disgusted. Thank you for knowing the truth. _

"You're welcome." She turned the handle and opened the door. She paused, "and thank you."

Yuki walked home on air. He breezed in the door to face Shigure and Kyo and Tohru.

"Where were you?" Shigure asked. "We were almost worried."

"Yes," Tohru said, reached up to touch his forehead. "Are you okay? You look flushed."

"I'm fine, I'm fine. No fever." He just waved them all away and climbed the stairs to his room, where he sat on the futon, still amazed by what had just happened.

A knock on the door interrupted him.

"Yeah?"

Shigure peeked his head in. "Can I come in?"

"I guess. What?"

"Yuki... how do I put this lightly? You went to see a girl didn't you?"

Yuki nodded. "Yes, I did."

"Does she, well, _know?_"

"As of today, yes."

"You know that I'll need to tell Akito."

"Why?" he jumped up, agitated. "You know what he's like. Let's just... not tell him."

"I can't," Shigure said. "I'd like to, but I... just can't."

"The bond?"

"Call it what you will, it doesn't change the fact."

"What about Nii-san? He didn't tell about his lady, did he?"

"He did. It's just that no one else really cares about him. Akito found him annoying, and didn't see any issue with it. You, on the other hand, are rather precious."

"So you're going to tell." Yuki put his hand in his hands, and groaned. "Of course you will. Akito's little lap dog."

"I told you, I have to." There seemed to be an ounce of apology and sincerity in Shigure's tone.

That night, Yuki didn't sleep well. He was remembering. Remembering the day when all of his new friends had their memories erased. Remembering Kana. Momiji's mother. Rin. Haru. Kisa. Hiro. None of the stories were happy ones. And he knew that when Akito found out, he'd pay a great price. Like Shigure said, he was the rat. He was the 'special' one, meant to be kept by Akito's side, meant to be groomed to become leader of the family.

It didn't take a genius (and, let's face it, Yuki was kind of a genius,) to see that things weren't going to be pretty.


End file.
